My First Year
… after getting sober. Or losing 210 pounds. Or leaving an abusive husband. Five women( and one man!) tell Kimberly Bonnell their roller-coaster stories.
… After I Lost My Job
natasha Nyanin, 31, worked as a health scientist in Atlanta— until July 9, 2015, when she got a call:“ Your contract is terminated.”
The lady on the other end of the phone said,“ Don’ t come in tomorrow.” I asked her to repeat herself I was so shocked. Later I cried, out of fear, frustration, worry, abandonment. I had worked there for seven years and was surprised at how dispensable I was, even if I had suspected I might be dismissed— people had been let go over the years.
At the beginning I had days when I felt deep down that everything would work out; then I had moments when my soul felt as though it had been injected with lead, and I could not get out of bed. My visa was running out— I’ m from Ghana— and I had an apartment I could no longer afford.
I checked LinkedIn constantly and contacted friends to circulate my résumé, but I had to postpone my job search while my green card was being processed. I picked up odd jobs, like being an extra on a TV set and dog sitting.
For my thirtieth birthday my friends threw me a black-tie party. It was a glorious evening. I was surrounded by people who loved and believed in me, celebrating in the midst of a shit storm! That night I felt pure exhilaration and gratitude.
Their support helped me take a gamble on a whim: I moved to New York City. The first month was hard— I was sleeping on a friend’ s air mattress. For two months after that, I subleased a room in Brooklyn while I searched endlessly for a job. And
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